Saudi Arabia's Prince Nayef, Next In Line To Throne, Dies; Saudi Shares Plunge

Coming into the weekend, most were focusing on key events coming out of Greece and France, possibly Egypt, but nobody expected that Saudi Arabia would be thrown into the fray. That just happened, however, following news that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has died in Geneva, according to Saudi state television, citing a royal court statement. The news has sent Saudi shares sliding, because now 89-year-old King Abdullah must nominate a new heir for the second time in nine months. And the last thing the middle-east region needs, not to mention the world's biggest oil producer, needs is more geopolitical uncertainty.

From Reuters:

Nayef, interior minister since 1975 and thought to be 78, was the heir to Saudi King Abdullah and was appointed crown prince in October after the death of his elder brother and predecessor in the role, Crown Prince Sultan.

State television said the burial would be in Mecca on Sunday.

Defence Minister Prince Salman, 76, seen as likely to continue King Abdullah's cautious reforms, has long been viewed as the next most senior prince in the kingdom's succession.

Nayef had a reputation as a steely conservative who opposed King Abdullah's reforms and developed a formidable security infrastructure that crushed al Qaeda but also locked up some political activists.

He, King Abdullah and Salman are among the nearly 40 sons of Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdulaziz ibn Saud, who established the kingdom in 1935.

Salman was made defence minister in November and had served as Riyadh governor for five decades.

The Saudi royalty's health problems come at a time of great uncertainty for Riyadh. On the home front, the Saudis are trying to ensure that the regional Arab unrest does not spill into its borders. At the same time, they are trying to counter an increasingly aggressive Iran. That said, the al-Saud regime has proved to be remarkably resilient over the course of its history, remaining in power despite the forced abdication of the founder’s successor, King Saud, in 1964; the assassination of King Faisal in 1975; and the stroke-induced incapacitation of King Fahd for nearly a decade until his death in 2005, when King Abdullah took the throne.

Setting Up a Succession Plan

Sensing that the power-sharing method within the family had become untenable due to the sheer number of descendants seeking power and influence within the regime, King Abdullah in 2007 moved to enact the Allegiance Institution Law, which created a leadership council and a formal mechanism to guide future transitions of power.

This new, 35-member body, called the Allegiance Council, is made up of the 15 surviving sons of the founder and 19 of his grandsons -- a disparity that will grow as the sons begin to die. Its purpose is to choose the new king and crown prince when they die or are permanently incapacitated, but the new institution remains an untested body. Perhaps most problematic, the processes the council is set to govern are being implemented at a time when the second generation is on its way out. Had this formal process of succession been initiated earlier, it would have been institutionalized during the era of the sons of the founder. They were far fewer in number and worked directly with their father to build the kingdom, giving them a stronger claim to authority than anyone in the subsequent generation. An earlier start would have allowed the second generation to deal with the many problems that inevitably crop up with any new system.

The composition of the Allegiance Council is such that it gives representation to all the sons of the founder. This is done through either their direct membership on the council or via the grandsons whose fathers are deceased, incapacitated, or otherwise unwilling to assume the throne. The reigning king and his crown prince are not members but each has a son on the council. The council is chaired by the eldest son of the founder, with his second-oldest brother as his deputy. Should there be no one left from the second generation, the leadership of the council falls to the eldest grandson. Any time there is a vacancy, the king is responsible for appointing a replacement, though it is not known if King Abdullah has filled the vacancy created by the death of Prince Fawaz bin Abdul-Aziz, who died in July 2008, some six months after the establishment of the council.

When King Abdullah dies, the council will pledge allegiance to the crown prince, currently Prince Nayef, though given his declining health it is questionable whether he will outlive the king. But the issue of the next crown prince is mired in a potential contradiction. According to the new law, after consultation with the Allegiance Council, the king can submit up to three candidates to the council for approval. The council can reject all of them and name a fourth candidate. But if the king rejects the council’s nominee then the council will vote between its own candidate and the one preferred by the king, and the candidate who gets the most votes becomes the crown prince. There is also the option that the king may ask the council to nominate a candidate. In any case, a new crown prince must be appointed within a month of the new king’s accession.

This new procedure, however, conflicts with the established practice in which the second deputy prime minister takes over as crown prince, a policy that has been followed since King Faisal appointed Fahd to the post. In fact, the current king, after not naming a second deputy prime minister (essentially a crown prince-in-waiting) for four years, appointed Interior Minister Prince Naif to the post in March 2009. But since Naif became crown prince (and thus deputy prime minister), the post of second deputy prime minister remains vacant. Salman, next in the line of succession, should have been given this post, but this has not yet happened. Regardless, however, the post of second deputy prime minister after the establishment of the Allegiance Council raises the question of whether established tradition will be replaced by the new formal procedure.

The law also addresses the potential scenario in which both the king and crown prince fall ill such that they cannot fulfill their duties, which could transpire in the current situation given the health issues of both King Abdullah and Crown Prince Naif. In such a situation, the Allegiance Council would set up a five-member Transitory Ruling Council that would take over the affairs of the state until at least one of the leaders regained his health. If, however, it is determined by a special medical board that both leaders are permanently incapacitated, the Allegiance Council must appoint a new king within seven days.

In the event that both the king and crown prince die simultaneously, the Allegiance Council would appoint a new king. The Transitory Ruling Council would govern until the new king was appointed. While it has been made clear that the Transitory Ruling Council will not be allowed to amend a number of state laws, its precise powers and composition have not been defined.

What Lies Ahead

The kingdom has little precedent in terms of constitutionalism. It was only in 1992 that the first constitution was developed, and even then the country has been largely governed via consensus obtained through informal means involving tribal and familial ties. Therefore, when this new formal mechanism for succession is put into practice, the House of Saud is bound to run into problems not only in implementation, but also competing interpretations.

To make matters worse, the Saudis are in the midst of this succession dilemma -- and will be for many years to come given the advanced ages of many senior princes -- at a time of massive change within the kingdom and a shifting regional landscape.

Saudi Arabia is perhaps at the most important historical impasse since the founding of its first incarnation in 1744. A number of internal and external events are occurring simultaneously and subjecting the Saudi state to extreme strain. On the external front there are a number of challenges, the most significant of which is the regional rise of Iran, catalyzed by the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad and the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. The Saudis also do not wish to see a U.S.-Iranian conflict in the Persian Gulf, which would have destabilizing effects on the kingdom. While Riyadh was struggling with the challenge from Iran, the Arab unrest erupted in early 2011, which has created two major hot spots on the eastern and southern borders of the kingdom.

On the southern flank, Yemen was grappling with three different insurrections challenging the regime of aging Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh even before the Arab unrest. A year later, Yemen is now in a post-Saleh period with a new president and various others jockeying for power. The Saudis are concerned about the Yemeni state and whether it will be able to hold together given that various forces are pulling Sanaa in different directions and jihadists are taking over significant swaths of territory.

On Saudi Arabia's east coast, Bahrain's Shia majority rose up against the minority Sunni monarchy. Bahrain is a bridge away from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, which houses the largest concentration of Shia and represents a huge potential for Iran to gain a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula. This is why we saw Riyadh team up with its Gulf Cooperation Council allies to engage in its first-ever foreign military deployment to assist Manama’s security forces. Through this action, Saudi Arabia was able to contain the agitation, at least for the time being.

The empowerment of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt -- following the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak -- and like-minded Islamist forces elsewhere in North Africa poses another major challenge for the Saudis. The meltdown of decades-old autocratic regimes together with the electoral successes of Islamists has implications for the stability of Saudi Arabia’s Islamic monarchical model of governance. Concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood being a beneficiary of the uprising in Syria has the Saudi kingdom proceeding cautiously in supporting the rebels there, even though the ouster of the Syrian regime represents the single best option to weaken the threat from Iran.

Furthermore, the Syrian unrest has implications for Lebanon, Jordan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- all key areas of interest for the Saudis on their northern flank.

Turkey’s bid for leadership in the Middle East is a new variable the kingdom has not had to deal with since the close of World War I and the demise of the Ottoman Empire. In the near term, the Saudis take comfort in the idea that Turkey can serve as a counter to Iran, but the long-term challenge posed by Turkey’s rise is a worrying development, especially since the Saudi leaders’ predecessors lost control of the Arabian Peninsula twice to the Ottomans -- once in 1818 and then again in 1891.

Even in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Saudis are caught between two unappealing options: side with the Taliban, as they did during the Taliban’s rule in the 1990s, and risk empowering al Qaeda-led jihadists, or oppose the Taliban and thus help Iran expand its influence in the area.

While the Saudis have time to deal with a number of these external challenges, they do not enjoy that same luxury in their domestic affairs. The Saudis have been largely successful in containing the threat from al Qaeda, but they have had to engage in radical reforms, spearheaded by King Abdullah, in order to do so. These include scaling back the powers of the religious establishment, expanding the public space for women, changing the educational sector and undertaking other social reforms.

These moves have led to a growing moderate-conservative divide at both the level of state and society and have galvanized those calling for further socio-political reforms as well as the significant Shia minority that seeks to exploit the opening provided by the reform process. These domestic issues have been magnified exponentially given the Arab unrest. In addition to the growing Shia protests in parts of the Eastern Province, there are reports of student unrest in the southwestern province of Asir.

There are also early signs of mainstream Saudis trying to mobilize in other parts of the kingdom -- at least over the Internet. It is difficult for the Saudi authorities to prevent a large university-educated youth population -- a large segment of which is unemployed -- from being affected by the new protest norm in the region.

Complicating this situation are fears of the religious establishment that the new regional climate is weakening its influence, especially if the government moves to engage in additional reforms. While thus far the Saudis have been able to control prominent Muslim scholars, known as the ulema class, especially with the limits on who can issue fatwas, the potential for backlash from the ulema remains. At the very least, the ulema will support more conservative factions in any power struggle.

All of these issues further complicate the Saudis’ venture into uncharted territory insofar as leadership changes are concerned. There are several princes who have already distinguished themselves as likely key players in a future Saudi regime. These include intelligence chief Prince Muqrin, the youngest living son of the founder and a member of the Allegiance Council; Prince Khalid bin Faisal, the governor of Mecca province; Prince Mitab bin Abdullah, the new commander of SANG; and Assistant Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif, the kingdom’s counterterrorism chief and head of the de-radicalization program designed to reintegrate repentant jihadists.

Stratfor is thus watching this issue very closely for any movement on the part of the untested Allegiance Council, which is expected to choose a crown prince and king as per the new succession law in the event of the death of the incumbents. Salman could take over as Crown Prince, but he is seen as the last of the major princes, which means it will be important to see who among the grandsons of the founder of the modern kingdom will emerge as key stakeholders in the Saudi system. But in the end, the real issue is whether the historically resilient Saudi monarchy will be able to continue to demonstrate resilience moving forward.

I've had a few emails recently from people in Saudi Arabia who seem genuinely puzzled about why I criticise their country. A country, let's remind ourselves, that's actively funding the spread of Islamic extremism throughout the West like a poison dye, that's exporting millions of text books around the world teaching children supremacism, separatism and hatred of non-Muslims, and a country that donates tens of millions of dollars a year to schools in Pakistan that train children to be suicide bombers. A country where women enjoy a status somewhere between human beings and livestock, and where people are executed for things that are not even crimes in the civilised world, and a country whose ruling class indulge themselves freely in alcohol, drugs, and every other vice you can think of while condemning their people to a social and psychological prison for their own moral good. And they really have to ask? One guy said "I'm from Saudi Arabia and I'm proud of my country." Well, good for you, but forgive me for asking why.

If you live in Saudi Arabia what on earth have you got to be proud of? If you couldn't dig money straight out of the ground you'd all be starving. The only thing your country has to offer the world is oil. Well, it's not the only thing, but we don't need any sand and we're all up to here with jihad, thanks very much. Your country, like the whole Arab world, is entirely and pathetically dependent on western technology, much of it Israeli, without which it couldn't function. What the hell have you got to be proud of?

Maybe you're proud of the fact that your country leads the world in public executions for things like sorcery. We went through that in Europe hundreds of years ago and we're still embarrassed about it. How do you expect us to feel watching you repeat the sane insanity? And there's no other word for it. It's not culturally different, it's not conservative, it's insane. And it's insane because your country is run by insane people, a small group of hardcore ultra conservative religious clerics, each the proud holder of a PhD in pious ignorance, who call themselves the Supreme Council of Islamic Scholars. That sounds like a real brainfest, doesn't it?

Actually no, you're right, it sounds like a bunch of rancid old closet homosexuals digging around in scripture to find ways of justifying their infantile fear of women. Men who have reduced their spiritual focus to such a dry ordeal of repression and vindictive cruelty they've sucked all the life out of it and out of themselves. And they're always looking for new ways to embarrass their country in the eyes of history, to cement its reputation as a backwater of superstition and ignorance, and to ensure that their ugly and poisonous Wahhabi doctrine will be derided and ridiculed by the whole world now and for many centuries to come.

Recently they instructed the religious police (yes, religious police) to prevent anyone who even looks as if they might be gay from entering a school or a university. They really seem to have a major problem with gay people, these guys. It's almost as big as the problem they have with women, and that's the psychological equivalent of a 200 pound tumour that has to be pushed around in a wheelbarrow. Indeed, they're so obsessed with homosexuality you can't help but be suspicious. When they condemn it as forcefully as any closet gay Christian televangelist who consorts with rent boys, what are we supposed to think? And no absurdity is too great, either, for the paranoid imagination of the Saudi religious "scholar", like the recent pronouncement that allowing women to drive cars will turn everybody in the country gay because there won't be any virgins left. Well, apart from the faulty logic, I think they're way behind the curve on that one.

It's well known that homosexuality is absolutely rampant in Saudi Arabia, despite being a capital offence, and it's almost impossible to find a Saudi man (and that would include the clerics) who has not had a gay experience because women are just so hermetically inaccessible. And who can be surprised? If you insist on keeping men and women apart in such an unnatural way you have to be prepared for the natural consequence - a rise in homosexual activity. Living in a crazy kingdom doesn't make anybody less human, and certain biological urges will be satisfied one way or another. Of course there's absolutely nothing wrong with being gay. The ancient Greeks were gay and there was nothing wrong with them. They routinely had sex with other men just as they do today in Saudi Arabia, and there's nothing wrong with it there either, which is just as well because it's no secret, boys, so you can step out of that closet any time you like.

All over the world Saudi Arabia has long had a reputation as a gay country, a country with one king and millions of queens, and the only people who don't seem to know this are the Saudis. Well, now you do. Indeed, there's a very good chance that, by percentage of population, Saudi Arabia is actually the gay capital of the world. Now there's something you can be proud of.

Of course, you Saudis wouldn't be in this ludicrous and embarrassing situation in the first place if you had the basic decency to treat women as human beings and not as possessions. And when you say to me "We treat our women well. "Our women are looked after and protected, not like yours. "Don't tell us how to treat our women. Look after your own."

That's the whole point, geniuses. They're not your women. You have no ownership. You have no jurisdiction. All you have is brute force. And if that's all you can use (and it is) you have no business calling yourselves men.

I wish there was a nicer way to say that, but there isn't. And let me tell you I'm not saying any of this to be insulting, because, believe it or not, I don't need any more enemies. It's just that sometimes the truth can sound like an insult when you're not used to hearing it, but the good news is thanks to the internet and western technology you soon will be.

Offthebeach, I don't agree with some of your considerations but most of your comment is right. I wonder (sarchasticly) why in the hell isn't NATO bombing them to push a "regime change" as our dear Hillary states about Syria and NATO did recently in Lybia.

US give Saud family military technology, Saud family gives US oil (by trading it under petro dollar system and keep american banks in business as fiat currency is backed by real asset....oil)

Is it any wonder, 9/11 was done by Saudis? Bin Laden is a Saudi who hates his royal family selling out his own people. However, this is not new....resource rich countries (ie. Africa) always fell under control of another country with superior military (UK, France, Dutch, USSR, soon China, etc.)

So is it any wonder, Iran invests heavily into her own military backed by Russia and China?

EU, US/UK, Russia, China are competing for super power.......for control of currency, energy, food, and people's minds.....Africa, eastern europe, southern Asia, Middle east are pawns these guys use and fight wars on. You never see actual wars fought on the soil of these supreme powers.....always using foreigners on foreign soil to fight war where the other guy is doing the same thing.

Economic pie may grow, political power pie never grows. There is only one supreme ruler of the world. Just be glad that US is not the one being used.

"Is it any wonder, 9/11 was done by Saudis? Bin Laden is a Saudi who hates his royal family selling out his own people"...

I'd wager it's because of this comment. It's difficult for the people in the US to wrap their head around this. We have no problem celebrating our own throwing off the Hudson Bay / King of England injustices because it's several hundred years ago. Contemporary activity is experienced vicariously, (and safely), through electronic mediums and is leaving us with an inability to recognize, yet alone appreciate and celebrate truth.

There is a difference between martyrdom and survival. Theologians have discussed the various implications of each for centuries and currently the mantle seems to be heralded in the US by Ligonier Ministries, RC Sproul for the christian camp. I appreciate his ability to speak clearly and regarding this particular subject he maintains the truth is to be told to those to whom it's due.

I grew up in Bethesda, MD and knew a number of the Saudi royal family. They owned palace like estates in Potomac, MD. One of them was in my high school year... I don't think he was crypto-anything. He was definitely a pot-smoking, heavy drinking, douche-bag though.

The Saudi royal family is tollerated by Israel and the USA because they are willing to play the fraudulent petro-dollar game. I'm pretty sure they're not relatives of the Rothschilds or something of that nature.

>>>All over the world Saudi Arabia has long had a reputation as a gay country, a country with one king and millions of queens, and the only people who don't seem to know this are the Saudis...<<<

I just spit coffee on my laptop. Thank gawd I drink it black or I'd be taking in in for servicing.

Excllent rant. Keep up the good work.

>>>That's the whole point, geniuses. They're not your women. You have no ownership. You have no jurisdiction. All you have is brute force. And if that's all you can use (and it is) you have no business calling yourselves men<<<

I am surprised there aren't more murder (husband) suicides (wife) ...unfortunate home based accidents...poisoning works too gals.

Think creatively...

Ladder accidents...

Electric appliance in the bathtub (I doubt GFIs are common in SA)...

or you and a few of your household sisters grab him by the ankles and pull up hard while he's soaking in the tub...drownings happen all the time...

knew a young man who grew up in Saudi Arabia his mother was a gynecologist and she made a lot of money and was in high demand because Saudi women...couldn't become gynecologists and Saudi men...couldn't become gynecologists...haha. Yea he didn't like leaving the foreigners compounds because he was always hit on by Saudi men as an adolescent and teenager. Said man on man rape was a serious issue.

it sounds like a bunch of rancid old closet homosexuals digging around in scripture to find ways of justifying their infantile fear of women.

Ha Ha Ha! but actually that sounds about right. I've been reading on PressTV out of Iran (so I don't necessarily believe it) that there have been ongoing protests in Saudi Arabia. Maybe now the ordinary people will use this as a pretext for giving the old faggots in charge the boot.

The first gasoline powered car was produced in 1893 approximately 120 years ago. Granted, oil [hydro carbons] is still vital as a by-product for all industry today and well into the future. But, innovation, technology, and the free market entrepreneurial spirit today has made real tangible modern advances in alternate energies ie. LNG/CNG, Battery & Solar EV's , etc., etc., that just can't be glossed over as unrealistic or too costly to implement! It's truly time to build a viable infrastructure to enhance our independence, which in turn would create millions of jobs? The days of gasoline powered vehicles is numbered. Indeed, 120 years into the future and we're still being held ransom by a pre-historic commodity that has literally cost us our freedom from growing our GDP. The importation of Petroleum to keep our country humming could be cut ~75%-85%, and that's not a pie-n-the-sky number.

We've got to press Romney as a candidate to promise us all, that alternate energies - Natural Gas [my main thesis for fuel with alternates backing up] be exploited and enacted ASAP!

Ps. Nuclear Power is a no-brainer using Thorium Technology, and to hell with those ME Camel Jockey's!

You have to add the executions happening every Friday after prayer time.. When a man has committed an adultery, he is beheaded with sword, if the head doesn't drop, there are doctors waiting to cut the remaining tissue with a surgeons knife, when a thief had stolen something his one hand is cut and all of this is happening in front of the public, while everybody is watching... why do i know this ? because i have been in this country, but didn't go and watch this inhumane execution, and i know since some of my friends went to see it...

You can see a man making his feces inside a roundabout, just in front of the traffic then cleaning his bottom with a bottle of water...this one, i saw it with my own eyes...yes sorry but this is the worst place on earth to live in...and its all about oil.. we save the king, give protection to him and his family to share the oil and they do whatever they want and its called a country...

People all over the world have witnessed brutal public acts as entertainment.

In the US many would picnic at hangings.

You can research various crowd attitudes in Europe regarding punishment.

We are fascinated by blood and the swiftness life departs.

This quote from True Romance sums it up for me

Virgil: Now the first time you kill somebody, that's the hardest. I don't give a shit if you're fuckin' Wyatt Earp or Jack the Ripper. Remember that guy in Texas? The guy up in that fuckin' tower that killed all them people? I'll bet you green money that first little black dot he took a bead on, that was the bitch of the bunch. First one is tough, no fuckin' foolin'. The second one... the second one ain't no fuckin' Mardis Gras either, but it's better than the first one 'cause you still feel the same thing, y'know... except it's more diluted, y'know it's... it's better. I threw up on the first one, you believe that? Then the third one... the third one is easy, you level right off. It's no problem. Now... shit... now I do it just to watch their fuckin' expression change.

I never lived there so I can't opine. However, putting aside the stuff about Saudi Wahabbism which is well known, I do know someone pretty level headed who had to live there for several years, and what he told me is basically consistent with this. One unbelievable story after another.

Historically gay /castrated males were used as body guards for queens.

They won't produce bastard kids with the queen and harems, but they can be trained to be physically stronger than females. You also don't have to put your trusty aristocratic cousin in a lowly servant position of a guard. Because their condition usually lowered their social status, they could also be easily replaced or killed without repercussion.

aka Eunuchs.

I'm sure Saudis are well aware of advantages of using gays ad eunuchs especially under present circumstances.

It is an odd culture. For example, Ali Babba and the 40 Thieves had no women in their band of 'merry men'.

This contrasts with most other cultures, even the old Asian (for example, Chinese) warriors many of whom were women. It was not unusual to have women mixed with men in a band of brigands in ancient China.

Different strokes (so to speak) for different folks. Perhaps expalins events like this:

Meanwhile the royal Wahabbis chop the heads off lovers who had the misfortune of being sold into arranged marriages with family business crudites. In these lies, the US energizes. How much a gallon with the heads off?

Alois Irlmaier: World War III(Alois Irlmaier a native German, a simple, devout Christian he was interviewed by writer Conrad Adlmaier in the nineteen fifties and what he said assumes an ominous new significance, particularly in the light of recent developments. In essence he saw the approach of another world war, asked what causes this war, he responded:)

Everything calls peace. Shalom! Then it will occur -- a new Middle East war suddenly flares up, big naval forces are facing hostility in the Mediterranean -- the situation is strained. But the actual firing spark is set on fire in the Balkans: I see a 'large one' falling, a bloody dagger lies beside him --then impact is on impact. Two men kill a third high-ranked. They were paid by other people. One of the murderers is a small black man, the other a little bit taller, with bright-colored hair. I think it will be at the Balkans, but I cannot say it exactly.

After the murder of the third it starts overnight. I see quite clearly three numbers, two eights and a nine. But I cannot say what it means and cannot state a time. The war begins at sunrise. He comes along very rapidly. The farmers sit in the pub playing cards, when the foreign soldiers look through the windows and doors. Quite black, an army comes from the east, but however everything occurs very rapidly. I see a three, but I do not know if it means three days or three weeks.

Massed units march from the East into Belgrade and moved forward into Italy. Thereafter three armored wedges immediately advance with lightening speed in the north of the Danube over West Germany towards the Rhine ñ without preliminary warning. This will occur so unexpectedly that the population flees full of panic to the west. Many cars clog the roads ñ if they had stayed at home or not used the main streets. Everything, which will be an obstacle for the rapidly advancing tanks on high-speed motorways and other fast motorways, will be down-rolled. I cannot see the Danube bridges above Regensburg anymore. Hardly anything remains of the big city Frankfurt. The Rhine Valley will be devastated, mainly by air.

I see three spearheads coming. The Russian does not stop anywhere, while running in his three wedges. Day and night they run in order to reach the Ruhr-district, where the many furnaces and fireplaces are. Day and night the Russians run, inexorably their target is the Ruhr-district.

Immediately the revenge comes from across the large water. However the yellow dragon invades in Alaska and Canada at the same time. But he comes not far. And then it rains a yellow dust in a line. When the golden city is destroyed, it begins. Like a yellow line it goes up to the city in the bay. It will be a clear night, when they begin to throw it. The tanks are still driving, but those who sit in theses tanks become quite black. Where it falls down, everything will become quite dead, no tree, no bush, no cattle, no grass, this becomes withered and black. The houses still exist. I don't know what it is and so I cannot tell it. It is a long line. Who goes over this line, dies. Then everything in the spearheads breaks down. Nobody will come back anymore.

The airplanes drop a yellow powder between the Black Sea and the North Sea. Thus a death strip is created, straight from the Black Sea to the North Sea, as wide as half of Bavaria. In this zone no grass can grow let alone humans live. The Russian supply is interrupted.

From the east there are many caterpillars. But in the caterpillars everybody is already dead, although the vehicles keep rolling on, in order to gradually stop automatic. At the Rhine the attack is finally repelled. From the three spearheads no soldier will come home anymore.

The pilots throw off their small black boxes. They do explode, before they touch the soil, and spread a yellow or green smoke or dust. What comes into contact with this becomes dead, whether it is human, animal or plant. For one year no organism is allowed to enter this area, otherwise it will expose itself to the largest mortal danger. These boxes are satanic. When they explode, a yellow or green dust or smoke arises, everything that comes in contact to it, is dead. The humans becomes quite black and the meat falls off their bones, so sharply is the poison. nobody from these three armies will come home anymore.

Then I see someone flying, coming from the east, who drops something into the large water, so that something strange will happen. The water lifts itself as high as a tower and falls down, then everything is inundated. The whole action will not last long, I see three lines - three days, three weeks, three months, I don't know exactly but it wonít last long.

And then:

There is an earthquake. The southern part of England slips into the water. One part . . . disappears, when the thing falls into the sea. The countries at the sea are endangered of the water heavily, the waves go high as a house; it foams, as if it would boil. Islands disappear. A part of the proud island sinks, if the thing falls into the sea, which the pilot drops. Then the water lifts itself as high as a tower and falls down. What this thing is, I do not know. When it comes, I do not know.

During the war the big darkness comes, which last 72 hours. It will become dark at a day during the war. Then a hail impact, consisting of lightening and thunder, breaks out and an earthquake vibrates the earth. Please do not go out of the house at this time. The lights do not burn, except candle light, the current stops. Who inhales the dust, gets a cramp and dies. Do not open the windows, cover it completely with black paper. "Outside the death by dust goes around, many humans die. After 72 hours everything is over. But again: Do not go out of the house, do not look out of the windows, and keep the candle light burning. And pray. Overnight there will die more humans than in the two world wars before.

Do not open the windows during the 72 hours. The cattle falls, the grass becomes yellow and dry, the humans will become quite yellow and black. The wind drives the clouds of death off to the east.

The city with the iron tower (Paris?) becomes the victim of its own people. They ignite everything. Revolution is, and everything is going wildly.

The large city with the iron tower is on fire. But this has been done by its own people, not by those who came from the east. And in Italy it is going wildly too. They kill many people there and the Pope flees, but many clergymen will be killed, many churches collapse.

In Russia a revolution breaks out and a civil war. The corpses are so much that you cannot remove them off the roads anymore. The large ones among the party leaders commit suicide and in the blood the great guilty is washed off. I see a red mass mixed with yellow faces, it is a general riot and horrible killing.

The cross comes to honours anew. The Russian people believe in God anew. They sing the Easter song and burn candles in front of sacred pictures. By the prayers of Christianity the monster from hell dies; also the young people believe anew in the intercession of the God's mother.

If everything is over, a part of the inhabitants have died, and the people are frightened of God anew.

The laws, which bring death to the children, become invalid. Then peace will be. A good time. The Pope, who had not to flee across the water for a long time, returns. When the flowers bloom in the meadows, he will return and mourn for his murdered brothers. After these events a long, lucky time comes. But the people have to begin there, where their grandfathers began. End!

there is nothing a good hooker will not cure in your literary problem. We must all contribute here at ZH. Forget the pope, concentrate on his little brother niched in Underland....I hope its not yet Neverland! Skol!

What happens when fuckers like me who have our eyes open dont turn up? What then? Who you gonna draft? Me? My kids? my neighbours? their kids? Obama? His kids?

Hhmm....... Tell the fucking money men to fuck off, inthemix says so.

Fuck you money men, I have no chuck with no one. Fight your own fights you cowardly fucking shits. I fight when blankfein, rubin, dimon, paulson, obama, cameron, osbourne, clegg, pelosi, clinton, blair, brown, and all you other fucking parasites pick up a gun.

Widespread protests against the Vietnam War had not yet begun, but with that one phrase, Ali articulated the reason to oppose the war for a generation of young Americans, and his words served as a touchstone for the racial and antiwar upheavals that would rock the 1960s. Ali's example inspired Martin Luther King Jr. – who had been reluctant to alienate the Johnson Administration and its support of the civil rights agenda – to voice his own opposition to the war for the first time.[7]

Ali was eventually arrested and found guilty on draft evasion
charges; he was stripped of his boxing title, and his boxing license was
suspended. He was not imprisoned, but did not fight again for nearly
four years while his appeal worked its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was eventually successful.

Nicknamed "The Greatest," Ali was involved in several historic boxing matches.[8] Notable among these were three with rival Joe Frazier, which are considered among the greatest in boxing history, and one with George Foreman,
where he finally regained his stripped titles seven years later. Ali
was well known for his unorthodox fighting style, which he described as
"float[ing] like a butterfly, sting[ing] like a bee", and employing
techniques such as the Ali Shuffle and the rope-a-dope.[9]
Ali had brought beauty and grace to the most uncompromising of sports
and through the wonderful excesses of skill and character, he had become
the most famousathlete in the world.[10] He was also known for his pre-match hype, where he would "trash talk" opponents, often with rhymes.

(In reading Human Smoke I realized that the pacifists as were known before WW2 are gone. Their ideals have virtually vanished from the political stage, to be replaced with the worst type of partisanship.)

You have little to no idea what your talking about gully folly. Just because I my family and my own will not take up arms against no one who has done me harm, that makes me a pacifist? Right on brother, keep posting innane fucking drivel on the interweb mate, just make sure you are prepared for when the time comes.

And I mean it, when the likes of the war criminals blair and bush, their kids, and their familys are on the front line, kicking off with people we have no direct contact with, or who probably couldnt give a shit about, when one of those fuckers gives his life, for his fucking just cause, then come back. Me? I couldnt give two fucks. Fuck the money men gully folly, wake up.

Sometimes I think because we inhabit a multiverse made up of many universes rangeing from the near exact copy to the radically different, visionaries mange a glimpse into the others. Mystics, SCIFI authors, so on may merely be channeling the events of another place just like this.

Everyone quotes Nostradamus, but there are a shitload of other people who have made predictions.

Some like Criswell are worth the read just to see what pure bullshit sells.

In this case, I stumbled across the Iron Tower line just after 911 and it strick a chord.

A shitload indeed with emphasis on the shit if I may be so bold. I can take excerpts from the Bible, (which in this case this author blatantly rips off Revelation IMO), and make it sound with some tweaks here and tweaks there like I'm some prophesizer extraordinaire. Beware of simple-living devout BS artists professing to be the real-deal when in reality they're grand plagiarizers, con artists with agendas, and at best mediocre aspiring novelists. Yeah they had a shitload of them in the 1950's just as today. BTW they're almost always described as 'devout' by some interviewer as if a shimmering halo covers their pate up until they're caught buggering little boys in cloisters and shower stalls.

If I don't personally know a man's soul and if he wipes his ass just like everyone else does, then I must assume that what comes out of his mouth if it sounds as if God himself is speaking down to us from Heaven through His charming channel of piety, is damn very well suspect on all counts and then some.

Ps 2 the BS: I've also heard that the 'object' which hits said water is not man-made but is per various interpretations of Revelation a flaming asteroid sent forth by command from of all places, Heaven itself.

If there are as many gays Saudis as that poster claims, and it is because of the inaccessability of thier chicks, what explains all the gays in the USA, where the women are free and easy? I thought it was "genetic" nowadays.

Hey flats - if a woman is living in the right environment, just because she is poverty stricken doesn't mean she is not awesome.

Go out and look around some time. There are some amazing people in this world. I find people living in somewhat intact cultures, who've somehow, so far avoided getting globalized to be especially interesting, with a lot to offer, that's otherwise been lost from the human experience.

By comparison, American woman and men, in general, are pretty vapid, unaware, lost souls. Maybe this story will help you.

The New Water

One day, the mysterious prophet-saint Khidr told the world, “In a few days, all water throughout the earth from natural sources will disappear, and be replaced with new water that will make people crazy when they drink it. However, any water that is specially stored will not undergo this transformation.”

Only a man named Hasan paid attention to this, and he gathered water and stored it in anticipation of the change.

Three days later, just as Khidr said, the water from natural sources stopped running, and was replaced by a new variety of water.

Everybody drank the new water except for Hasan, who had saved and specially stored the original water. And soon Hasan noticed that all the people began acting differently, and that they had no knowledge Khidr’s prophecy or of the day that the waters were changed.

When Hasan began interacting with the people, they thought that he was crazy, and they ostracized him.

Hasan continued to drink his stored water for a few more weeks, but he could not take the loneliness anymore, and he decided to drink the new water and become like everyone else.

From then on, the people regarded Hasan as a former madman who had his sanity renewed.

While I would like to think that our friend's motives are pure and true re: this--

>>>...I find people living in somewhat intact cultures, who've somehow, so far avoided getting globalized to be especially interesting, with a lot to offer, that's otherwise been lost from the human experience...<<<

Face it. So-called "intact cultures" are patriarchal by and large...and brutally so. Women are subserviant. Grinding poverty assures our friend a stable of women to do his bidding.

Losers go to Asia for women when they can't deal with women in the U.S. That is whey there is a thriving sex tourism trade there...and we won't even talk about what goes on with children.

You're either naieve or an apologist or a participant...and your little story a diversion.

You go out and take a look around at the heinous crap going on in so-called "intact cultures"...not so awesome.

Concerns about the Muslim Bros. being a beneficiary of the uprising in Syria has the Saudi kingdom proceeding caustiosly in supporting the rebels there, even though the ouster of the Syrian regime represents the single best option to weaken the threat from Iran.

The Sunni/Shia thing has been inflamed by Zato in the time-tested divide and conquer, Heglian mishmash. Stratfor has their part to play in promoting this agenda.

If the Saudis are showing restraint, maybe it is not the MB that the Saudis are concerned about, but that the Syrians might return the arm-the-opposition favor?

they didn't tell us how many women were in bed with him when he popped the weasal. If it was his whole harem its understandable. There comes a time in the affairs of men...peace on his soul, he died bravely, in my novel!

So ... any Saudi Arabian princes in line in favour of the gold dinar? (Which of course would cause the US to start another war in the Middle East, because if there is one country in the world utterly incapable of operating under a gold standard at the moment it is the United States.)

I'm sure there are many devout princes who would love to see a true Muslim dinar used for currency, but the truth of Saudi life is that they live at the behest of the G7/20 oil importers. Their people fucking hate them because they are a repressive conservative regime and would slaughter House Saud if their protectors cast them out. So they know better than to attempt to screw with dollar hegemony (at least in public markets anyway).

Great commentary Offthebeach. Saudi Arabia is indeed a place that cannot be explained, but must be experienced. When working on the pipelines in Saudi back n the 80's, I had some exposure to this inane land. For example: on one hand, we were forbidden alcohol in the compound (foreign worker's compound - we had to be segregated from Saudi society) and the Wahabbi's would regularily show up to search for hidden stashes, while on the other hand, Saudi military would show up a day or two before the "surprise" raid, to warn us of it, and even pointed out where the soil was soft from the previous crew's digging when they had to bury their stash due to a raid. They always recommended burial in the sand, followed by parking a jeep over the spot (no - not with the wheels on the booze ...) and then spilling a little gasoline around (many fuel tanks leaked from continually hitting rocks - pipe access roads were not a pretty sight)to throw off the dogs (they couldn't smell alcohol but they could smell where a bunch of people had recently been - the gasoline took care of that). And riding across the desert on a Toyota 4x4 at a ridiculous speed at 2 in the morning with the headlights turned off (light at night in the desert apparently offends Allah?) was a another treat to be forgotten. As we were running directional survey through the desert in the days before GPS, we needed an expert on satelite triangulation to maintain line. We were given a very nice young female PhD who knew her stuff, but keeping her away from some Bedouin's harem was another matter. In the end, we had to return to Riyadh, were a government official formally claimed her for some Crown Prince's harem, and then immediately gifted her back as property of the survey crew chief. This way she was already owned and no nomadic chieftain et al could now claim her for his own. The marvels of central government in a tribal country never ceased to amaze me. And homosexuality was rampant down there, especially in the cities where the Wahabbi's could keep an eye on the comings and goings of women. It was a little different in the desert, where the chietain was truly the master of his tribe - of course there the value of life was also much cheaper - and for anyone familiar with Saudi punishnments for crime, this should tell you something. I know some things have changed a little in Saudi since those days, but from what I hear from some people I know who now reside there, much is still the same. Throw in the predominantly Shiite restless population in the region of the Ghawar oil field into the mix, and should succession be less than smooth, you have the makings of a real mess. When all sides - Sunni moderate (when compared to Wahabbi's), Sunni Wahabbi and Shiite are all screaming "Allahu Akbar" at each other just before trying to slice each other up, you have a situation that is fundamentally unresolvable in that less than stable land.

When all sides - Sunni moderate (when compared to Wahabbi's), Sunni Wahabbi and Shiite are all screaming "Allahu Akbar" at each other just before trying to slice each other up, you have a situation that is fundamentally unresolvable in that less than stable land.

We're dancing around the Wahhabis, and that is the problem. And now we come to find that they're all a bunch of butt stuffers on top of it? Sweet Baby Jesus, Mohammad was right, there is only the horns of Satan which will come from Narif. That is what is behind the Brotherhood. And now people will just be waking up....

Just another example of oligarchy, rule by the elite few, the most common form of gubmint throughout history and today.

Under this form of gubmint, the Sheeple have no rights, only privileges dispensed by the ruling elite. Since the free enterprise economic system can only exist under a republican form of gubmint, these states all have fascist, socialist and communist economic systems that only serve to preserve the power and wealth of the oligarchs.

Since tyrants never relinquish power voluntarily, the Saudi oligarchy is protected by the dominant military power on the planet (as long as they sell their oil only for FeRNs) and their Sheeple are disarmed, they better get used to the taste of camel $#!+ on the rulers' jackboots.

Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan run by the Talibans... there's ain't much difference between them, they are pretty much screwed for the next 2-3 generations at least even if they were ``fixed`` right now.

A good start would be to close all the religious schools... start with that and it should fix itself within a few generations.

Overall, the Saudi military has about 240,000 troops. But about 40 percent of those belong to the National Guard. These are organized into eight brigades (three mechanized and five infantry, for a total of 32 battalions). There are also another 24 battalions of National Guard reservists. About 75 percent of the National Guard troops spend most of their time guarding oil facilities and other important government assets. The rest provide security for the royal family and key government officials. The most loyal, and able, members of the royal family hold senior commands in the National Guard. This is an organization that puts a lot of emphasis on loyalty.

The National Guard is well armed and trained, all of them. But most of all, they are loyal to the royal family. But being that the country is called Saudi Arabia, after the ruling Saud family, the National Guard also protects the government. Since the Sauds see themselves, first and foremost, as the protectors of the most holy places in Islam (Mecca and Medina), the National Guard also serves God. So the National Guard is far more than tribal warriors loyal to a wealthy and generous family. The National Guardsmen are holy warriors, who serve the protectors of the Islamic holy places. That's a big deal in Arabia and the Islamic world. While the National Guard recruits first for loyalty, next comes bravery and willingness to die for the cause (the royal family and Islam).

The current unrest in the Middle East has not manifested itself in Saudi Arabia in part because Saudis realize that the National Guard will fight to the death to protect the royal family.

Here's an idea - nominate someone under the age of 50 for the next crown prince. Aren't there something like 1000 royal princes? What's the point of nominating a 78 year-old guy who is likely to die himself in a few short years???

I live in Saudi now. Strange fucking place! It is like the Twilight Zone here. No one likes it here, not even the Saudi's. Most of the young ones want to go to the USA or Canada. If you want to see what boredom does to young men who don't have access to girls, go to YouTube and look up "Drifting." It's really ate up, and lots of young Saudi's are killed or in wheel chairs because of it.

Everything is also one giant skim here. The idea is to get contacts as far up the food chain as you can, especially one of the (thousands of) members of the Royal Family. Get some kind of contract and skim as much money as you possibly can. Graft is the national sport here, after soccer. Crooked as a camel's back from top to bottom. It is a VERY corrupt country.

For people who pray 5x a day, they can lie, cheat, steal and hate with the best of them. For some reason no one can fathom, they are also some of the most arrogant people in the world. But there is nothing to back it up. They are not innovative, honest or have an inkling of a work ethic. All the major work is done by foreigners, all the Saudi's want to do is sit in offices and sign papers. Whether they are qualified to or not.

I have a one month vacation coming up in a couple weeks, can't wait!!!! The money's good, but this place is like a prison. And yes, there are lots of fags here. Lots of REALLY fat kids, too. They'd rather wait 3 minutes for an elevator than walk down one flight of stairs that would take 30 seconds or so. Like I said, very weird place, made even weirder by the fact it is so artificial and financed by oil. It's the closest to actually living in the Twilight Zone I've ever seen.

SA is full of hipocrytes. They have their ticket ready to fly to LHR or GVA. But they know, that the US have to protect and save them whenever they are in danger. In the end, it's worth it for the US: they get petrol at good prices, can sell all kind of scrap to the stupid Saudis but have to tolerate, that they are financing any kind of anti US groups. How do we call the game: win-win? Having worked in SA, best was driving over the causway to Bahrain and enjoying Lebanese food in Manama with a fine château Musar.

I can't like this news as a muslim. Coming into the weekend, most were focusing on key events coming out of Greece and France, possibly Egypt, but nobody expected that Saudi Arabia would be thrown into the fray. Thanks for the post. clothing deals